Del buon senso del teatro. Ipotesi di ricerca sull’archivio della Direzione generale dello Spettacolo nel secondo dopoguerra

This paper presents the first results of the research conducted by the Rome Sapienza unit about the Directorate General for Performing Arts preserved at the Central State Archives. The study investigates the role of public funding in the process of institutionalization of Italian theatre in the post-war period. By integrating quantitative history, documentary analysis, and attention to mentalities, the research aims to bring to light implicit criteria, decision-making logics, and forms of administrative thinking that contributed to redefining the very idea of theatre. The processing of data relating to selected sample seasons makes it possible to observe shifts in the productive balance of the system. The aim is not to offer an exhaustive reconstruction, but to propose interpretative lines concerning the formation of a specific theatrical mentality, in which the relationship with the State gradually becomes a constitutive element of Italian theatre’s self-understanding.